


Growing a Forest

by yxrtyu



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Lovers, Falling Out of Love, M/M, One F bomb, Romantic Soulmates, Slow Burn, Stabbing, soulmate au in which your soulmate's touch heals you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:55:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23331997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yxrtyu/pseuds/yxrtyu
Summary: Ricky hated the idea of soulmates. He was perfectly fine with being with Nini, but he broke her heart. In the midst of trying to get her back, he surprisingly finds his soulmate in Nini's new boyfriend, EJ Caswell.
Relationships: E.J. Caswell/Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen/E.J. Caswell, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 14
Kudos: 162





	Growing a Forest

**Author's Note:**

> Ahahaha this idea struck me so suddenly, I really had to get it out. (Sweats profusely as I ignore the other WIPs sitting gathering dust.)
> 
> Enjoy.

* * *

Ricky wants Nini back. This he knows for sure. He _thinks_ he loves her, though. At least he’s pretty sure he does even if they weren’t soulmates. 

The idea of soulmates to him was always bullshit. He hates that his life was already predetermined, that having some higher being out there deciding your entire life was just not realistic, and why bother searching for someone when you don’t know if you’ll ever meet them? Ricky never bothered himself with that; instead, he focused on Nini, who was in front of him, real and alive. While they have not found their own soulmates, the two genuinely enjoyed being together, and he wants to be with her in spite of what the Fates say (even if he did mess up things and break her heart). Besides, his parents were soulmates, too, but his mom has been gone for a long time, and it seems like she won’t ever be coming back to be with his dad, so what was the point if it all if soulmates do not end up together?

Even if Nini couldn’t heal his cuts and bruises with her touch, he still felt wholly a lot better just by being around her. She was a constant in his life since kindergarten, bringing him joy and happiness that he can’t bring for himself, and he can’t imagine her not being by his side, so when they broke up, he was at a loss. Not only did he lose her as a girlfriend, he lost her as a best friend.

Now, Nini’s with EJ, and just thinking about the two of them together gets him heated. Or EJ in general gets him heated. It’s unfair: he’s good looking, popular, extremely smart, charismatic, a natural born leader, and basically, everything that Ricky just isn’t. But he also sees that EJ is overconfident to the point of cockiness, feels chills whenever he shoots an icy glare at him, and is surprisingly insecure and jealous when Ricky does whatever he can to get Nini back, and he tries his best to exploit these negative traits in hopes that his ex-girlfriend will see them and not love EJ anymore.

However, his efforts have all been in vain thus far, with Nini spurning him away and telling him off every single chance she gets, not failing in letting him know that she is over him. It’s clear that EJ notices what he’s trying to do, too, judging by the way he sneers at him whenever their eyes meet.

It also doesn’t help that the animosity between him and EJ escalates to the point where he ends up hitting the senior in the face with the basketball prop. 

“O-kay! Let’s take a five, everybody!” Miss Jenn says loudly, her voice striking through the tension in the room. She runs to the athlete, concern showing on her face. “EJ, sweetie, are you okay?”

Ricky, unsure of what to do, stays frozen in place, regret coursing through him as he watches EJ wince upon touching the cut on his lip. His eyes flash to the drops of blood on his shirt, their presence serving to make him feel slightly worse. 

“EJ, I’m sorry, man,” Ricky apologizes. He finds himself reaching out, but he’s too far away, so he ends up standing there, his hands grasping at nothing in the air.

“It doesn’t look that bad,” their teacher says as she inspects his face. “You should go to the nurse’s office, though, and get it checked out just in case.”

EJ mumbles his thanks to her as he steps away and walks past Ricky to head out of the room, making sure to send a dirty look his way before leaving.

To say he feels bad is an understatement. He feels terrible about the whole ordeal, about his jealousy and selfishness going out of check and hurting EJ in the process (and Nini, too, for that matter, which ultimately sets him back even more from accomplishing his goal of winning her back). He lets out a sigh as he looks back to see Miss Jenn talk to the other two boys in the room, coaching them about blocking the scene. Seeing that he was not needed for the moment and also not up to rehearsing, he makes his way out of the classroom to find EJ.

When he finally happens upon him in the bathroom, he realizes that he does not have any game plan whatsoever (story of his life). The older boy looks at him and scowls before returning to getting the bloodstains out of his t-shirt.

Ricky takes a deep breath before saying, “Hey, look, I’m sorry about what happened-”

“No, you aren’t. Stop lying to yourself,” EJ cuts him off without even glancing up from his task. “It has been a constant battle not to deck you for all the shit you have been pulling in front of my face to get Nini back.” He pulls his hands back away from the faucet’s sensor to stop the water running and tilts his head to look at the junior. “Nini is with me, and you need to get that fact into your head.”

Ricky only stands there, mouth open but nothing coming out, no biting remarks or harsh replies, anything to break the senior in front of him down. Instead, he stands there awkwardly, unsure of what to do with himself while EJ resumes washing.

“Do you even want to be a part of this musical?” 

“Well, yeah, I mean-”

“Or are you doing it just to be closer to Nini?” EJ is fully facing Ricky, his hand holding his wet shirt clenched in a tight fist. Irritation colors his expression. “Who, by the way, has told you repeatedly that she is not interested in getting back with you.”

EJ shrugs his jacket on and wrings out his wet t-shirt, the sound of squeezing out water loud in the bathroom. He steps towards the exit where Ricky is. “You come out of nowhere, not interested in musicals or acting whatsoever, and you get the lead part without having any prior experience. That shit pisses me off.”

Ricky has nothing to say except apologies, but it seems like those will fall on deaf ears. When the older boy comes up to him and crowds his space, most likely to threaten him, there’s an overwhelming whiff of fresh pine scent that he can’t help but breathe in. 

“Just… Stay away from me and Nini.”

The smell dizzies Ricky and has him teetering off balance, unable to discern up from down and right from left. Just when EJ steps around him to get to the door, the younger boy moves on auto-pilot and whips around, his hand shooting out. 

“Dude, what-” EJ starts, but he ends up looking dazed, as if hypnotized or cast under a spell. 

“I am sorry. Really. It’s just I’m not over her and… and...”

Ricky trails off as his mouth drops open in shock when he pinpoints his vision on the older boy’s lip.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” EJ asks after he regains focus, annoyance clear in his voice.

“Your lip. The cut. It’s… it’s gone.”

Disbelief floods EJ’s blue eyes, his face slightly pale. “What?”

Ricky lets go of his hand and lets him go up to the mirror to check that his lip is indeed without any injury, nothing to show evidence of what happened during their mini rehearsal. 

The lack of blemish on EJ’s lip is also a stark realization for the both of them.

EJ whirls around and gets in Ricky’s face, disdain and hate all over his own. “This doesn’t mean shit, Bowen.”

With that, he roughly shoulders Ricky before he exits the bathroom. The younger boy on the other hand stays there and goes over the recent whirlwind of events that transpired, unable to believe that he found his soulmate in EJ Caswell of all people. 

* * *

It’s hard to wrap his head around it. 

It was hard enough to want to believe in the concept of soulmates, how upon finding them you find true happiness and real love and what not, and now finding out that his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend is his own was more than Ricky can handle. He attempts to push it to the back of his mind, but he finds himself thinking of cold blue eyes and fresh pines every now and then instead of warm brown tones and passion fruit. 

Nowadays, when he sees EJ and Nini, his gaze first falls upon Nini, the longing he feels deeply in his heart too much for him to bear. Then he looks at EJ… and he’s not sure as to what to think. Either way, the two of them are still together, which means that either Nini doesn’t care that he and her perfect boyfriend are soulmates or EJ is withholding that information. 

Also, nothing has changed since that day in the bathroom: Nini still avoids him like the plague, and he and EJ share a mutual hatred for each other. Somehow, though, Ricky feels everything has changed.

His suspicions are confirmed when EJ corners him in the hallways before rehearsal starts, a murderous look on his face. 

“Wha-”

“Just shut up and give me your hand,” he barks at him, his own hand sticking out expectantly with his palm facing up.

Ricky just stands there dumbfounded with his mouth flopped open like a fish out of water confused as to what EJ wants from him. He takes too long to respond, prompting the other boy to growl impatiently and to grab his hand and place it on his shoulder. Upon contact, the intensity in EJ’s expression slowly dissipates, a small sigh of relief spilling from his lips. However, his eyebrows are still knitted together, looking like he was still worried about something.

“I dislocated my shoulder. I’ve been in pain the entire day. Been looking for your stupid ass.”

There’s an eye roll before he says, “‘Oh, gee, thanks, Ricky.’ Yeah, sure, no problem, EJ.”

Ricky moves to remove his hand, but as soon as he takes it away, EJ lets out a sharp hiss, his face scrunching back up in pain. Panicked, he returns his hand to its original position, and EJ loosens up once more, exhaling through his nose.

“I guess… in order for this to work, I probably have to… keep my hand on you for awhile?” he says unconfidently. He cocks his head, questions running through his head about the soulmate’s touch and how he knows nothing about it. “I actually have no idea how it works.” 

EJ grunts and looks away uncomfortable, but Ricky has a feeling it’s not because of the pain. “My mom says the more surface area that’s covered, the faster the process. Like, most of our body has to be touching.” 

Ricky frowns. This was not what he was expecting to be doing prior to rehearsal, and he really does not enjoy the idea of being anywhere near the guy. 

“Ugh, look, rehearsal is going to start soon, and I’d rather not be dying because of my stupid shoulder, okay?”

What happened after happened so fast that Ricky does not know how, but they ended up in an empty classroom with the older boy’s strong arms around his waist and Ricky’s own wrapped around his upper back. The effect is immediate, and EJ is practically melting in his arms, a loud groan of relief in Ricky’s ear. He’s hit by the fresh pine scent again, and it has his stomach twisting in knots.

“Is it working?” he finally asks after a couple of minutes gone by. 

Ricky feels rather than sees EJ nod, his hot breath tickling his neck. The sensation along with the realization of how close the senior was has heat creeping up his face, his heart pacing faster, and his stomach swooping. 

“Feels good,” the other boy mumbles, relaxing more and more into the embrace. Ricky feels him getting heavier and harder to hold. “‘m sleepy.”

“Whoa, wait, hold on, DUDE-”

With that, they both fall to the ground, legs tangled and arms wrapped around each other. Ricky groans, the back of his head killing him, but he notices that as soon as the pain is there, it quickly disappears, and what’s left is a soothing warmth draping all over his body. It makes him want to sink into the ground and bury himself with this feeling, anything to stay like this, but he remembers that there’s rehearsal soon, and they’re Troy and Chad. Shaking his head to snap out of it, he looks to his side and freezes upon seeing how close EJ’s face was, their noses almost grazing, breaths intermingling with each other’s. As soon as his heart slows down from the initial shock, he takes the time to get a close look and see how peaceful the older boy looks when he’s asleep, a total contrast to how he looks during the day. 

“Hey,” he whispers loudly as he pushes at the other boy’s arm. “Dude, c’mon. Get off me.”

Seeing no response, Ricky wiggles about, disentangling himself from EJ as best he could. Once he is able to separate himself completely, no point of contact in between them, EJ’s eyes slowly open. He blinks a few times before he hones in on Ricky’s own face.

“What happened?”

“You fell asleep on me,” the junior explains as he moves to stand up. He turns to EJ and puts a hand out, which is pointedly ignored as EJ stands up by himself much to his chagrin. 

“I guess I was in that much pain,” the athlete concludes as he makes a circling motion with his arm extended out forwards and backwards. “My shoulder feels completely fine now.” 

Ricky looks at him, feeling very out of place. It was a strange situation to be in: here he was, minutes until rehearsal starts, in an empty classroom practically cuddling with his enemy. Really not his cup of tea, though he is curious about one thing.

“How does it feel?”

EJ turns to look at him, an eyebrow raised in question. “How does what feel?”

“When we... like, touch.”

The senior stops his windmill motion, his arm dropping to his side. It’s quiet for a bit more until he looks at Ricky, honesty set in his eyes instead of the usual angry fire directed towards him. “I guess… the best way to describe it is being wrapped up in blankets in front of a heater or a fire. Really cozy.” 

“Oh… that sounds really nice,” he lamely comments, fingers fidgeting with his hoodie’s zipper, a soft _zzzz, zzzz_ reaching his ears.

“How is it for you?”

“Um…” The scratch of the zipper stops. It was his first time really experiencing the healing effects from his soulmate’s touch, and he’d be wrong to say he hated it. Completely opposite of that as a matter of fact. “I guess, for me, it’s more like eating warm chicken noodle soup or a warm apple pie. Just… really warm and nice in general.”

The senior nods, his features more relaxed than Ricky has ever seen him, and it makes him wonder if he’ll ever see it again.

“Well, thanks, I guess,” EJ mutters.

He leaves Ricky alone in the classroom with his whole body feeling cold and the vague feeling of something missing. 

* * *

They meet every so often, more than they would have before they found out they were soulmates, which was nil. Ricky texts to see him whenever he wipes out on his skateboard, blood dripping down his elbows or knees, bruises forming into a gross shade of black and blue, inflamed wrists from landing hard on his hands. EJ demands his presence whenever he gets a bad injury from sports or working out, unbearable pain from tweaking his back during a deadlift gone wrong, his problem shoulder popping out of its socket once again, twisted ankles from tripping over people playing basketball. 

Depending on how bad the other was hurting, the amount of touch utilized ranged from just having one hand on a shoulder to full on hugging. Ricky finds himself really enjoying the latter, taking in the smell of forest that’s around whenever he’s near the athlete, his body turning to complete mush. They rarely talk during these little get-togethers, but he finds out that EJ’s favorite way to hug whenever the injury is really bad is to bury his neck in the corner where his neck and shoulder meet. He also learns that, like the first time Ricky had to hug him in the empty classroom, EJ will fall asleep, so they worked out various positions to alleviate his weight burden on the junior: if both standing, EJ would have to prop himself against something, like a desk or car, and Ricky would stand in between his legs and receive him into his arms. If both sitting down, they preferred to sit side by side as they figured out facing each other didn’t allow enough surface area to be touched and also alluded to having one of them straddling the other’s waist, which they absolutely were not a fan of. 

As they continue to meet, Ricky notices how EJ doesn’t look at him in contempt anymore, rather it’s replaced by a neutral expression: no dislike or like. He himself doesn’t find any hate for the guy either, and he begrudgingly acknowledges how just being with EJ physically makes him feel good all over. Did he find eternal happiness or his true love in EJ Caswell? Definitely not, but it does have him wondering what it would be like to be _with_ him. 

Regardless, they still know nothing about each other. Ricky doesn’t know what his favorite food is, if he’s a morning or a night person, what song is stuck on repeat in his head, and if he loves his parents. EJ has no idea that Ricky likes to eat spoonfuls of peanut butter as a quick snack, that he’ll stay up really late and sleep in until the afternoon, how he’s obsessed with Juice WRLD’s recent radio hit single still, and that he loves his dad more than his mom. 

He wonders if Nini knows. There’s still no change in her behavior towards him: she doesn’t approach or even look his way, her eyes only on the senior. His heart still hurts upon seeing her with him, but thoughts of her drift away whenever he gets a whiff of EJ’s signature musk of pine needles and fresh air, and he’s left with thoughts of her boyfriend rather than her. It’s mind-boggling to him really, and he doesn’t know why or how or even when, but EJ has taken up residence in his head and possibly his heart, planting himself there and sowing seeds.

“I didn’t tell her,” EJ says, interrupting Ricky’s thoughts.

Ricky looks to the boy sitting next to him on his right holding his hand, mid sip on his chocolate peanut butter milkshake. He swallows. “For real?”

“I don’t know how to exactly tell her that her ex is my soulmate. Kind of a weird thing to say.”

“Well, us being soulmates is weird in the first place,” Ricky hears himself saying honestly.

That gets a small laugh out of the older boy, and for once, he sees a smile on EJ’s face that’s glowing from the neon 7-11 sign in front of them, the store’s fluorescent lights lighting up his back. He has to remember to breathe.

“We should tell her, though,” the senior speaks, rolling his ankle out to test its range of motion. Ricky does not miss the reluctance in his voice. “But I don’t want to hurt her.”

Ricky silently agrees with him, but it was hypocritical because he already broke her heart. It feels like he still is just by sitting here with EJ and holding his hand even though he knows the other boy’s ankle is fine now. 

He takes another sip, the milkshake no longer thick and already melted down to a thin liquid. It reminds him of his own feelings towards Nini. “Let’s tell her tomorrow, then.”

He feels a squeeze on his right hand. 

* * *

Tomorrow turned into the next day, which turned into the next day, which turned into next week, which turned into a month. One day, it’s a test one of them needs to study for. The next, it’s rehearsal or a sports practice. Other days, they plain just chicken out, putting it off over and over again, not willing to see Nini’s own heart crumble into pieces in front of them. Ricky has seen it once; EJ never wants to see it.

The musical has already happened, and winter is fading away into an early spring, green slowly coming back onto the trees. There’s more time to skate now that there are no more after school rehearsals, and with warmer weather approaching, there are also more people at the skatepark, especially assholes who try to take over it and bully everyone there. Ricky gets caught in the middle of a fight that Big Red gets himself into, and he doesn’t realize how serious it is until one of them pulls a knife and sticks it into his thigh. 

The cops were called, forcing the other group to retreat in fear. His best friend frets over him, saying they need to get him to the hospital, but Ricky thinks of his dad struggling, thinks of the bills he now has to take upon himself because of his soulmate, and vehemently tells Big Red to just bring him to the football field. Fortunately, his friend doesn’t ask any questions and does what he’s asked, which Ricky is extremely grateful for. When he’s dropped off, he sees in his peripheral Big Red taking out his phone and calling someone, but his leg hurts so bad, and he just needs to see EJ, needs his touch right now, so he jumps out and ignores Big Red’s cries to him. 

He’s limping across the dark field, the only light coming from nearby streetlamps, hand applying pressure to his thigh, when he sees EJ walking towards him, his signature smirk on his face morphing into a look of alarm. 

“What the hell?” EJ shouts at him in a panic as he jogs towards him. “Is that blood?”

Ricky laughs, his head feeling light. He wants to cry from the excruciating pain, the wound throbbing so badly as his jeans and hand grow wetter with his blood by the second, but he’d rather not. “Ah, funny story.”

And just like that, he falls into EJ’s arms, and finally he’s all kinds of relieved, inhaling EJ’s scent and exhaling out a contented sigh. He feels his thigh slowly stitch itself back together, and the warmth generated from his soulmate’s touch covers him like a blanket. 

“What the hell happened?” the older boy says worriedly, almost angrily into his ear.

“Nothing but a flesh wound,” he mutters in reply, the warmth so heavy it makes him sleepy. “‘S not so bad.”

“I can’t believe you’re quoting Monty Python right now,” EJ scoffs. He adjusts his hold on the younger boy, his arm tightening around his waist as his hand runs through his curls. “And you could barely walk to me, you idiot. Let me see it.” 

EJ’s arms maneuver themselves so that he can put some distance in between them, but Ricky fastens his hold, unwilling to let go. Once they stop hugging, even if EJ was still touching him, the pain will come back, not as bad as it was when he was without EJ, but worse than what he’s feeling now, and he doesn’t want to experience it again. He also doesn’t want to be out of his arms where he feels safe and at peace, but he refuses to say that outloud, not that he can because he finds himself between sleep and waking. Not wanting to fight it any longer, he surrenders himself wholly to the deep pull of slumber.

He eventually wakes to find himself sitting sideways in EJ’s lap, the senior’s left arm around his waist and the other toying with his bloody fingers. He blinks blearily, and once his vision clears up, he registers that they’re sitting in the middle of the football field. Lifting his head up, he looks to see EJ peering over him, eyebrows drawn together in concern, and he loses himself in his blues.

“You okay? Your cut’s gone now.”

A brush of fingers around where the cut was has his stomach flutter. He looks down to see EJ pushing away the fabric to reveal fully healed skin smeared with blood. Blinking blearily, he inspects his cut as best as he could in the night, rubbing a thumb over the now smooth skin, no scar as a souvenir. 

“How long have I been out?” he asks sleepily, his finger tracing the outline of EJ’s hand after he’s satisfied with the closing of his cut.

“Probably a half hour or so.” EJ sighs, the breath from his exhale gracing Ricky’s face. “Looks like the worse the injury is, the more your body has to go through to heal. Maybe sleeping also helps speed up the process. Makes sense because I’ve fallen asleep way too many times on you.” 

Groaning in embarrassment, Ricky lets his head fall back into the crook of EJ’s neck. “Sorry.”

“Literally, don’t be. You got stabbed, Ricky. You needed me.”

“Sorry that I needed you.” The imaginary heated blanket has him feeling fuzzy and warm inside, and he further burrows his head into EJ’s neck. 

He feels EJ’s chest rise and fall as another sigh tumbles out. “Again, don’t be sorry. I don’t mind. I don’t mind at all.”

It isn’t said, but Ricky still hears the sort of confession, hears the concern and just how much the other boy cares. He thinks about how EJ hasn’t pushed him off even though he’s completely fine now and how he doesn’t want to leave EJ’s arms. As weird as it was in the beginning, their destined connection has created something pleasant for them and has brought them to this moment here, grass tickling their ankles and a gentle warmth caressing them both underneath a night sky. He concludes that there’s nowhere else he’d rather be. 

“I don’t mind either,” he admits, finally linking his fingers with EJ’s.

He lifts his head and looks into his soulmate’s eyes and sees his own feelings reflected back to him. It unnerves him, the butterflies in his stomach flapping around wildly, his heart racing. It speeds up even more when he catches EJ’s eyes flicker downwards to his lips. The gap between them seems so much bigger than it really is, and all he can think about is getting close, close, _close._

“Ricky?”

Flashlights blind him when he looks to where the voice comes from behind them, a hand thrown up to block the light. Blinking to let his eyes adjust to the sudden brightness, he sees Nini with Big Red, the sight of her making his stomach drop. For the first time ever, he finds that he absolutely does not want her around. He tries his best to put on a poker face as he scrambles out of EJ’s hold, anything to hide how he now feels so cold. His mouth opens, but nothing comes out, and when she looks at the boy next to him, who stands there looking just as guilty, he feels completely helpless.

“EJ?” Nini says incredulously, her eyes widening in shock and confusion apparent on her face. Ricky sees the realization dawn on her, confusion being replaced by anger. “What the fuck.”

“Look, we can explain-” EJ begins, but he shuts his mouth when his girlfriend throws a hand up, indicating for him to stop talking.

“Let me see your thigh, Ricky,” she says quietly, voice unsteady. He sees her eyes glisten in the dark, and he hears in her words her heart breaking all over again.

“Nini-” Ricky says.

“Let me see it!” she lashes out with a stamp of her foot, startling everyone. 

Not wanting to make the situation worse, he obeys her command and walks over to her. She shines a light on his thigh, the majority of his jeans dyed red with his blood. Leaning over, she pushes the jean material around, her breath hitching when she sees no stab wound whatsoever. She huffs, switches her light off, and turns around to walk away. He knows he should let her go, knows he should let her be, but he hates to leave it like this, hates to see the back of her disappearing into the night, hates thinking about how their relationship will dissolve to nothing, so he grabs her hand in hopes of gathering what is left between the two of them, ignoring how it doesn’t feel anything like holding EJ’s.

“Don’t touch me!” she yells as she spins around to smack his hand away. “I don’t even want to look at both of you right now.”

“Nini, let us explain,” EJ speaks from behind him, voice cracking in desperation. 

“What’s there to explain?! The fact that my boyfriend and my ex are soulmates and never told me about it?!” The girl roughly wipes away her tears with her sleeve, breathing heavily as she glares at both of them. 

“We wanted to tell you so many times, Nini.” It actually hurts him to tell her the truth, tell her how much of a coward they each were, running away every single time. “But we just never wanted to hurt you.”

“Well, congratulations, you accomplished what you didn’t want,” she coldly replies. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, then exhales and opens them to look at EJ. “Did you love me?”

EJ’s face twists into pain, but not of the physical kind. “Yes, absolutely.”

“Ricky, did you love me?” 

“Yes,” he says without hesitation. It surprises him how easy it was to say it now unlike before when he couldn’t say it back.

“Do you two still love me?”

The question throws him off, and he thinks of how he hasn’t thought of Nini in awhile, thinks of how EJ is now rooted in his mind and in his heart, blooming into something more like the spring that’s coming, Nini’s own flowers in him withering away with the departing winter. He looks to EJ, who looks back at him, and he recognizes how similar the other boy looks to when Nini first confessed her love for him in her bedroom so long ago. The earnestness on EJ’s face takes his breath away, leaving him speechless. 

A sniffle brings Ricky back to her, shoulders slumped forward and arms crossing her body, cradling the broken pieces of her own heart. She looks away, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “I need some time to get used to this.” A small sob spills from her mouth as the heel of her hand presses against her eye. “I want to be happy for you… but I can’t. At least not right now. I’m sorry.”

With that, she walks away, and Ricky does nothing but watch.

“Ricky, I’m really sorry, I thought you wanted her to be there for you,” his best friend finally speaks up after he watched the whole scene unfold, his face contorted with a different kind of guilt than what he and EJ were feeling. The sincerity in his voice has him sighing once he understands why Big Red did what he did.

“Maybe before, but… not anymore, I guess,” he says back, feeling more tired than ever. “It’s also my fault. I didn’t tell you about…” He waves a hand to where EJ’s standing, who looks just as exhausted. “But yeah. We’re soulmates.”

“Well, congrats, I guess.” Big Red scratches his head. He takes a step, hesitant. “Do you need a ride home?”

He looks back to his soulmate, thinks of everything that has happened since that day in the bathroom, of legs tangled, of arms wrapped, squeeze of hands, of warm apple pie, of blue eyes and pine trees, and turns back to Big Red. 

“Yeah, I’ll take that ride. Just give me a minute.”

The redhead nods before turning to walk away, and now he’s left with EJ and the moon and stars.

“Well, shit really hit the fan there,” EJ jokes half-heartedly, his face showing nothing but misery. 

“Yeah… we really messed up big time,” Ricky agrees, and then he sighs wistfully. “I… she was my best friend, you know? Since kindergarten. She’s been there for me for so long, and I would hate to have our relationship… just become nothing.” He walks towards EJ and rests his head on his collarbone, relaxing when the comfortable scent of pine invades his senses. The warm blanket comes back when he feels EJ lace their fingers together. 

“I know. Just give her time. We owe her that much. Hopefully, she’ll come around.”

“And what about us?” He looks up, his own heart in his throat. “What do you want to do about us?”

All EJ does is lean forward, lips ghosting his forehead, and gathers him into his arms. Ricky’s eyes flutter close as he settles into the warm sensation, his own hands reaching up to grab the taller boy’s shoulder blades.

Ricky knows he doesn’t love Nini. At least not in the way he used to. There's still a special place for her in his heart, a small flower surviving the aftermath, and it’s reserved for her and only her. He still doesn’t know EJ as he has no answers to the questions of favorite food, morning or night, song stuck on loop, or love for parents. 

What he does know is that EJ is his soulmate, and he knows that he wants to spend the rest of his life getting to know him, answering those questions and more, cultivating the forest within him, and basking in this warmth forever. 

**Author's Note:**

> PSA: I love Nini so much, and I hate that I had to do her dirty like this. :(  
> Another PSA: Sharpay was the true victim in HSM.
> 
> twitter @nelsquared


End file.
